NEWYou can now listen to articles!
Knox County, Tennessee, Mayor Glenn Jacobs called for a “nationwide pause” in the deployment of Flock surveillance cameras on “The Sunday Briefing,” arguing the technology raises constitutional, privacy and safety concerns and lacks sufficient safeguards.
Jacobs said law enforcement should have access to tools that help solve crimes, but argued newer Flock technology goes beyond conventional license plate readers and should not be deployed broadly until guardrails and an updated regulatory framework are in place.
An aerial view shows a Flock Safety camera mounted to a light pole in Burbank, Calif., on Aug. 3, 2026. (Getty Images)
FLOCK SURVEILLANCE SPREADS ACROSS THE SOUTH AS RED-STATE LAWMAKERS SEEK TO AX ‘1984’-STYLE TRACKING TOOLS
“This is not about depriving [law enforcement] of the tools. It’s about figuring out how these tools can be used in an appropriate manner that is consistent with the Constitution,” said Jacobs, pointing to “dozens of cases” of abuse.
“There is no federal regulatory framework in place that governs [Flock cameras]. The laws regarding license plate readers in Tennessee date from 2014 with one very minor update in 2021. The technology has advanced significantly since then. So we want [law enforcement] to have the tools they need. At the same time, those tools have to conform to the Constitution.”
A Flock Safety-branded license plate reader camera is on site on a lamppost near the intersection of Peacock Drive and Bristol Road in Ventura on Sept. 9, 2025. (ISAIAH MURTAUGH/THE STAR /USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images/Reuters)
LICENSE PLATE CAMERAS ARE TRACKING DRIVERS EVERYWHERE
Flock Safety, one of the leading vendors of automated license plate readers, has exploded in popularity with law enforcement, municipalities and businesses in recent years.
The ACLU estimates that there are between 80,000 to 100,000 Flock cameras deployed nationwide.
A Flock Safety camera is shown mounted to a light pole on Aug. 3, 2026, in Beverly Hills, California. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Flock’s own marketing claims that it is present in more than 6,000 communities, working with more than 1,000 businesses, and more than 5,000 law enforcement agencies nationwide, resulting in billions of vehicle scans per month.
In part of a statement to , Flock said the data it collects is automatically deleted after 30 days by default unless an agency establishes a different retention period.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE APP
The surveillance system, which Jacobs characterized as “notoriously erroneous,” has increasingly become the subject of debate across the country, including in West Virginia, where lawmakers in the state’s Freedom Caucus are seeking to ban the AI-powered cameras statewide, arguing the technology violates citizens’ Fourth Amendment right to privacy.
Digital’s Kerri Kupec Urbahn contributed to this report.
